"We haven't had strong football here," said Pat Henthorn, the school's athletic director, "but I hate to say when people ask if we're a football or basketball school, that we're a basketball school. Grant Hill is such a huge name and he's done so well and is such a great role model, but we'd like to be competitive in all our sports."

Since advancing to the Northern Region football championship in 1999, South Lakes won one game combined in the 2000 and 2001 seasons before turning it around.

"I wasn't really thinking we had an opportunity to get here," first-year coach Joe Trabucco said, "but we preached team and we preached hard work and the ball bounced our way."

In last week's regional final against Woodson, the Seahawks trailed 2-0 before benefiting from one of those bounces.

On fourth down at the 40-yard line with less than four minutes remaining, Seahawks punter David Lansdowne's kick bounced off a Woodson player's shin and into the hands of South Lakes linebacker Dan Smith at Woodson's 27-yard line. Two plays later, the Seahawks scored the decisive touchdown in a 7-2 win.

"You gotta have the players," Trabucco said of the success. "We had a big carry-over from last year's team and the key to us was to win our very first game. We thought if we could to do that, we'd have the opportunity to be very competitive."

The Seahawks were 4-1 entering their first matchup with Woodson when the sniper attacks temporarily halted high school athletics in the Northern part of the state. The game was postponed and South Lakes stayed inside for more than a week.

"I really was concerned because I thought I was going to lose them, lose their attention," Trabucco said.

The game was played nine days later and Woodson won, 40-34, in four overtimes. The Seahawks responded by winning their next three and clinching a playoff berth.

Turnaround complete.

"I knew if we won seven, we could get in," Trabucco said of the playoffs.

Though this is Trabucco's first experience with Triple-A football in Virginia, he coached at that level for 16 years in West Virginia and has been a fan of Phoebus coach Bill Dee. The two met about five years ago through a former Phantoms assistant.

Before South Lakes, Trabucco was the first coach at Liberty of Bealeton, a Group AA school where he spent eight seaons. Liberty advanced to last year's Division 4 semifinals and faced eventual state-champion Lafayette, which won 3-0.

"People who missed that game," Trabucco said, "that was the state championship."

Dee said it's ironic that his Phantoms wound up drawing South Lakes and Trabucco.

Trabucco was rooting for Dee last year when the Phantoms captured their first state title.

"It is coincidental that we'll be playing each other," he said. "I always thought D-5 was one of the toughest divisions in the state because there was a lot of good traditions and good teams. I never really thought about playing Phoebus, though."

Jennifer Garvin can be reached at 247-4759 or by e-mail at jgarvin@dailypress.com